Directors

Satish Kamath (1956 – 2019) Founding Executive Director

Satish was considered as the face of Western classical music in Trivandrum and is well known all over the country for this encouragement and patronage of the same. He started as the program executive in the All India Radio (AIR) for Western classical music and international programmes of India. Although his main line of businesses was alternate construction materials and energy, he was invited to head the Yamaha music Division in Muscat, Oman, wherein he won the best manager award from 67 countries under Yamaha Gulf. He has played important roles in bringing up Bangalore School of Music in it’s early years before departing to the Gulf. Today he has dedicated himself to popularising and education of Western classical music and instruments in Trivandrum. He is also the Founder Director of Trivandrum Centre for performing arts that hosted and conducted 16 high quality classical music concerts in Trivandrum in 2017-18 alone. He was instrumental in getting Trivandrum’s first Grand Piano for concerts. Satish was instrumental in selecting our first batch of musicians and has set the tone for our concerts and sessions. Satish passed away during the first month of our operations on 12 September 2018 and he is dearly missed by both the music world of Trivandrum as well as our Academy8

Mohammed Bashir, Chairman of Board

Mohammed Bashir, a retired Central government officer with the Ministry of Commerce, Govt of India, is currently a businessman and the Vice president of the Kerala Chamber of commerce and industries (KCCI). He plays a prominent role as an office bearer of various social organisations like CONTACT (Confederation of Television Artists Association of Kerala)) and The Muslim Educational Society to name two. He is also active in the Film and Television fields in the capacity of an Actor, Director, Producer and scriptwriter. He is also a published author for organisations as well as social causes in the community welfare arena.

Hari Gopinathan, Executive Director and Co-Founder

Hari grew up in Trivandrum, but moved to California in the 90s. He has moved back to Trivandrum in 2014 but while he was in US, studied music, art and movie making at De Anza College in Cupertino. After observing the American and European musical training systems, he wanted to start an academy that can teach Indian students to become professional western classical musicians. So when he met Satish Kamath, after reading about his role in setting up Trivandrum Center for Performing Arts (TCPA) via a newspaper article about TCPA, the idea of Trivandrum Academy of Western Music (TAWM) started to take shape, along with the other partners. Hari’s other interest includes oil-on-canvas, martial arts and helping the IT ecosystem of Trivandrum achieve global prominence. Hari is the Executive Director and is the primary contact for the Academy.

Jelaja Kumari, Director

Jelaja(sometimes spelled as Jalaja) is one of the most influential actors of Indian movie industry, as one of the pioneers of Method Acting known for her award winning roles. A quick Google search will show the sheer size of her body of work as an actor, which runs to nearly a hundred plus movies. Predominantly in the artistically significant Malayalam language movie industry, Jelaja has worked with some of the most celebrated and influential directors down the history. She took a break from acting in the past twenty years, after her marriage and shift to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Since 2017, she has moved back to Trivandrum and is an active jurist for State’s film festivals. She is also the recipient of the Kerala state best actress award. She has been a great positive influence in the way the music Academy is planned to be.

Raju Harilal, Director

Raju is the CEO of Seaview Support Systems (P) Ltd and Director in associated group of companies based out of the IT hub of Technopark, Trivandrum. He is a Management Professional with over 20 years of experience in the field of Media and IT. Raju plays the guitar and was part of the Trivandrum band scene since the 80s. He is collaborating with other artists to revitalize the contemporary rock scene of Trivandrum. As a key partner, he brings significant experience in digital media marketing, as well as help set the direction of Trivandrum Academy of Western Music